Poemi Kosovar By Mitrush Kuteli

Abstract

Despite expressing his artistic feelings and devotion, Mitrush Kuteli’s “Poemin Kosovar” represents also his deep sense of Albanianism for the nation as a whole. Hence, based on what this poem reflects, it is surprising how a writer from the southern Albania, beside the general history, knows in detail the painful story and mentality of the time in Kosova. From this common history, as he himself points out, he planned to write a poem of the Illyrian entirety, but since this required a lot of work and great devotion, he decided to write “Poemin Kosovar”. From biographical data, it turns out that Mitrush Kuteli in 1943 (perhaps earlier too) had walked across the land of Kosovo. He got acquainted with the life and culture of people that lived in those lands, and with various objects of history and culture too, especially of Prizren. Meanwhile, these elements also appear in this poem and reflect his profound insights, which are often surprising. The poem unfortunately was anathematized by the communist dictatorship, from which Kuteli himself was punished. He suffered in the later course of his life and the fate of his work too. Of this punishment, some of the work was lost or remained unknown to the reader for almost half a century, and the remainder he could have written was never created because he was charged with other compulsory labor. Therefore, besides these, the approaches and treatments of this poem are always interesting and intriguing.